Two days later, at the edge of the Dragon Snake Space Zone, where Firefly was stationed …
In the last years of the Star Ocean Republic more than a thousand years ago, the predecessor of Firefly had been the exploration starship of the latest generation.
At that time, the Cultivators of the republic had high hopes for the experimental starship. They had stuffed the body of the starship, which was as round as a whale, with all the magical equipment from the Imperium, the relic technology of the primeval era, and all the hopes of mankind that the republic could excavate.
The experimental starship was supposed to fulfill the greatest mission. It would set off from the heart of the civilization of mankind and explore the universe, searching for the worlds that had been lost in the 'Armageddon Rebellion' after the collapse of the Star Ocean Imperium, asking them to rejoin the big family of the Star Ocean Republic and create a more brilliant and glorious civilization of mankind together!
When the enormous body of Firefly slid out of the dock for the first time, and the ninety-nine power units that were arranged in a rhombus emitted the most dazzling blue brilliance at the same time, none of the cheering Cultivators of the republic on the spot, however adept at deduction and calculation they were, could have foreseen the absurd fate of the experimental starship in the future.
The first official voyage of Firefly was not for exploration and discovery but for hiding and exile.
During the long journey of exile for a thousand years, Firefly had indeed discovered a lot of Sectors with its powerful probe magical equipment at first and won the support of the Cultivators in those Sectors.
Countless Cultivators who were unwilling to submit to the reign of the Imperium carried all their belongings, techniques, and magical equipment onto the dazzling starships of different styles. After simple technical modifications, the tiny starships were connected to the main body of Firefly, like barnacles that were attached to a big ship or fish that were swimming together with a blue whale.
The advanced space jump matrix on Firefly could release a special protective membrane to prevent the collisions and melding accidents that were very likely to happen when two starships were performing a short-distance space jump.
Such technology made it possible for a hundred starships to be stuck close to each other for a space jump at the same time. It also constituted the basic form of Firefly in the hundreds of years that followed.
At its peak, centered at Firefly, the 'deep-space exploration test starship of the Star Ocean Republic', almost six hundred starships large and small were attached to it, constituting an enormous team in exile with a total population of more than five hundred million.
The good times did not last long. The overly bloated structure and the redundant internal control system significantly lowered the combat ability of Firefly. After several soul-stirring battles, although Firefly luckily escaped from the Imperium's pursuit, the number of starships that made up 'Firefly Group' was reduced from more than six hundred to less than three hundred, too. Most of them were empty, uninhabitable, empty coffins that could barely be dragged in the main fleet. The population of the fleet's population plummeted by more than eighty percent, too, was on the verge of collapse.
Before encountering the Xing Yao Federation, Firefly had been drifting in the sea of stars like a whale that had mostly rotted. It knew that its body was slowly decaying, but it could not get rid of any of the 'coffins' because, in the space where resources were scarce, a lot of useful junk could be dismantled even from the completely wasted starships, which would help them prolong their last breath for a while.
For Firefly and the 'rightful government' of the Star Ocean Republic at that time, what could they do except prolong their last breath?
It was undoubtedly a protracted, enormous project to overhaul such a starship, or rather, a pile of starships that had been in exile for a thousand years and was riddled with holes and rust. The difficulty and consumption of such a project were no less than the difficulty and consumption of hundreds of starships from scratch.
Thankfully, compared to the 'bumpkins' at the edge of the cosmos such as the Xing Yao Federation, Firefly, which was from the center of the cosmos, did have some assets that were not entirely cleaned up.
With the remarkable technology and techniques from the center of the cosmos, the government-in-exile exchanged tremendous resources from the Xing Yao Federation and established an enormous dock and floating maintenance base at the edge of the Dragon Snake Space Zone, where the busy maintenance was carried out.
The government-in-exile even purchased a large batch of starships directly from the Xing Yao Federation. After minor modifications, the starships were connected to their own bodies to increase their activity space and improve their quality of life. After all, in the cosmic environment where there was no gravity or resistance, no matter how bizarre the starships looked, their sailing ability would not be affected at all.
Therefore, if one were to look at Firefly from the carrier that delivered resources, it would appear that Firefly, illuminated by the flame-like redness of the red giant, did not look like a firefly but hundreds of fireflies that were gathered together and surrounded by circular rails, docks, floating spaceports, and maintenance bases.
Hundreds of carriers were delivering assets to them incessantly. Hundreds of thousands of maintainers, in Crystal Suits, were working hard in the cold vacuum outside of Firefly, like ants struggling hard in the sea of stars.
A seemingly plain carrier without any marks on the surface passed a circular rail dock and a starship that had been stripped from the main body of Firefly and was about to be completely dismantled. It slowly moved toward the main body of Firefly, which was the deep-space exploration starship that had escaped from the Empyreal Terminus Sector more than a thousand years ago.
Right now, the deep-space exploration starship had been utterly deformed. Almost a hundred traffic tubes had been connected to the shell of the starship densely, connecting it to the other starships around. It was like a heart that extended countless veins.
The carrier was moving unhurriedly. Right now, it had completely reached the interior of Firefly. Countless close-range defense cannons were rotating agilely in various directions. Invisible mystic rays were passing by the carrier now and then. Almost a hundred fully-armed Exos were floating in the vacuum. The crystal cannons on their shoulders had all been unsealed. Starry brilliance was flashing on the barrels now and then. Behind the cold masks, sharp eyes seemed to be staring at the carrier.
The carrier slid into a secret dock several kilometers away from the 'heart' of Firefly.
"Chi …"
The enormous airtight gate was slowly closed, like an iron giant that was gritting its teeth hard.
Inside the dock, however, were hundreds of fully-armed Exos who were prepared for the arrival of a great enemy.
They were all the secret police of the Internal Affairs Division of the government-in-exile who had come to pick up a batch of special 'goods'.
The cabin door at the rear of the carrier was opened downward, revealing a staircase and a cargo belt.
Some of the members of the 'Election Observation Delegation' had been tied up and escorted down. Some of them, who were considered to be more dangerous' traitors', were packed in special box restraints and sent down through the cargo belt.
Of all the people on the spot, only a few were not wearing a Crystal Suit.
One of them was a middle-aged woman in a black trench coat who had a stern face and an incomplete left eye that had been replaced by three crimson crystal cameras.
She was Cheng Xuansu, the leader of the special investigation team of the Internal Affairs Division of the government-in-exile, and the commander of the arrest operation.
"Wait!"
When most of the prisoners were escorted to the shuttles inside the starship and were about to be sent to the secret prison cells, Cheng Xuansu suddenly stopped them. Three crystal cameras that were installed on the same round pedestal revolved slowly and released a streak of scarlet brilliance at a prisoner who was caged in a box restraining device.
It was … Tang Xiaoxing!
"Leader!"
The secret police who escorted Tang Xiaoxing stood at attention.
Observing Tang Xiaoxing who had fallen asleep carefully, Cheng Xuansu said casually, "Repeat the process of your capture of Tang Xiaoxing exactly as it happened. Such a feeble refiner escaped from your hands twice?"
"Yes."
The secret police hesitated for a moment and said, "The first time, we tried to capture her after knocking her out with 'stun grenades'. But as it turned out, she was not affected by the stun grenades at all and slipped away. She even set up a trap and heavily wounded six of our teammates. The second time, we had already captured her, but a mysterious tactical squad suddenly showed up and rescued her again. It was not until the third time that we narrowed the encirclement with the cooperation of the Chamber of Commerce and located her hiding place through the surveillance cameras of Fish Dragon City based on her walking posture.
"The enemy seemed to have adopted the strategy of 'diversion'. Most of them were running in circles with us outside. There were not many people around Tang Xiaoxing. Seeing that the situation was not good, we could only abandon Tang Xiaoxing and break out of the siege."
"How long was Tang Xiaoxing out of your control from the beginning to the end?" Cheng Xuansu asked emotionlessly.
"No more than six hours!" the secret police replied.
"Six hours?"
Cheng Xuansu sneered. "Also, the enemy boasted an 'anti-tracking specialist' who found all the tracking and locking chips that we deployed on Tang Xiaoxing?"
The secret police hesitated for a moment. "Yes."
Cheng Xuansu looked at her subordinate coldly. After pondering for a moment, she said, "Prepare a sterile room for me and summon two female officers. I want to examine her body."
The secret police was slightly dazed. "We scanned her fully when she was in Fish Dragon City. There was nothing on her."
Cheng Xuansu looked at her subordinate.
The secret police shivered and breathed heavily. "Got it. Prepare the sterile room right now!"
Half an hour later …
Cheng Xuansu walked out of the sterile room with a tiny glass bottle in her hands. Inside the bottle was a ball that was slightly red in color.
"This is …"
The secret police who were responsible for capturing and escorting Tang Xiaoxing were immediately soaked in sweat.
"An anti-tracking specialist must be an anti-tracking specialist. Do you not understand such a simple logic?"
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